Automotive News

Filed under: Motorsports, BMW, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Ferrari

Ferarri’s new driver Kimi Raikkonen put in a dominant performance to win the opening round of the 2007 Formula One series over the McLaren duo of two-time champion Fernando Alonso and debutante Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen, who started from the pole position, had an incident-free race and at one point held a massive 15-second lead over the field. His Ferrari was clearly faster than many other cars in the race, allowing him to lap all but seven of his opponents by the end.

The race, run in perfect conditions, started impressively with a huge crush of vehicles successfully navigating the tight first and third turns of the course without any clashes.

There were a small number of vehicle failures throughout, and one spectacular collision when David Coulthard of the Red Bull team attempted an impossible passing maneuver around a tight, windy section of the temporary street circuit, cutting across the front of Williams-Toyota’s Alexander Wurz. Coulthard’s front left wheel assembly was smashed as his vehicle flicked up onto and then slid across the nose of Wurz’s car and went flying through the air to land safely in the sand. Remarkably, Wurz was able to continue without any problems while Coulthard walked away from his ruined machine. Despite this, the pace car was not required throughout the 58 lap Australian Grand Prix, which ran very smoothly after requiring four stoppages last year.

[Source: The Age]

 

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Filed under: Videos

With another week officially in to books, it’s time to take a look at back at it in pictures. This week on Autoblog we had reviews of the Chevy Aveo and the Lincoln MKZ and more vehicles from the Geneva Motor Show were shown. We’ve captured some of the best photos and placed them in this video. Some of the many galleries from last week are below for your enjoyment.

Music for this piece comes from Johnny Rawls and the Rays with “Long Black Car” and from The Cartoon Factory with “The King of the City”. Enjoy!

 

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Filed under: Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler

Some German DaimlerChrysler shareholders may be moving to rename the company back to Daimler-Benz, but not everyone from the Stuttgart side is ready to abandon Chrysler yet. Helmut Lense is one of the union representatives on the company Supervisory Board, the equivalent of a US board of directors. Lense spoke to the Detroit News and indicated that the employee representatives on the board would oppose any selloff that resulted in the dismantling of the Chrysler Group. If a sale must be made, then he would prefer to see another manufacturing company buy the group as opposed to a private equity fund like the Blackstone Group.

Currently, DaimlerChrysler management is in talks with manufacturers like General Motors and supplier Magna International in addition to equity funds Blackstone and Cerberus Capital. Lense feels that a big part of Chrysler’s difficulty is an over-reliance on truck sales, which have been particularly hard-hit the past two years. He feels that a revamp of Chrysler’s passenger car lineup is what’s really needed. As GM has learned in the last few years, cuts can only take you so far, without revenue you can’t be consistently profitable. The key to revenue in the auto industry is creating a string of products people actually want to pay for, and that has been Chrysler’s real downfall.

While selling to a manufacturer with experience running a large industrial company might be preferable, finding one that is a good fit without significant overlap in product won’t be easy. That’s why Lense doesn’t see GM as a good buyer. For Chrysler to be successful in the long run, the best option could be for Daimler to keep them and make a commitment to the company. They should then follow GM’s pattern and design some desirable small and mid-sized models that will appeal to drivers. For that to work, Daimler must be willing to commit to sharing resources with the Auburn Hills group, and perhaps let Chrysler market vehicles like the A and B-Class. Mercedes could then re-focus on more premium vehicles. This would help reduce the brand dilution that Mercedes has experienced, while giving Chrysler a more well rounded lineup. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem likely to happen.

[Source: Detroit News]

 

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Filed under: Gadgets, Maintenance, Etc., Tech

A while back, we expounded on some simple items that brought more joy to the automotive arts. Spring is just around the corner, and we’ve compiled a big ol’ list of things to address in celebration of the Vernal Equinox. Unpacking the tools from their long winter nap is a ritual here, and it’s like reconnecting with old friends. Off we go.

Continue reading Toolkit Upgrades Round Two - more fun toys

 

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Ferrari

The motorsport press thought it was a big deal when Ferrari made their F1 car longer than last season’s by a couple of inches. Well, some nutjobs in a chop-shop somewhere have taken things a step further by hacking a perfectly good Ferrari in two and adding a few seats, turning out a gran turismo even longer than the 612 Scaglietti.

To make matters worse, this wasn’t some 80’s-era $30k Ferrari, either: they’ve chopped up a previous-generation 360 Modena, arguably among the most beautiful of modern road-going Ferraris.

Although we hate to admit it, logistically speaking, stretching out a mid-engine car with rear-wheel-drive technically makes more sense than running a long driveshaft from a front-engined limo all the way to the rear axle (as Top Gear’s Richard Hammond reckoned with his stretched MGF). But that’s where our sense of charity ends and our sense of outrage kicks back in. This is the automotive equivalent of painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

If you can bear it, there’s a video after the jump.

[Source: Bilfeber]

Continue reading VIDEO: Even for a Ferrari, that’s a bit of a stretch

 

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Filed under: Motorsports, Mazda

Mazda vehicles are known for reasonable prices and outstanding handling. The company’s long-standing “Zoom-Zoom” tagline, even for SUVs, shows that Mazda injects everything they make (except the B-Series) with a bit of race-car spirit. To help breed new Miata and RX-8 drivers, Mazda has decided to start with youngsters by throwing major dollars into karting.

At Sebring, Mazda announced a financial commitment of over $100,000 for prize money and operating costs, plus discounts on Mazda products for Kart racers in the sponsored competitions. Partnership agreements were signed with multiple sanctioning bodies and events, giving Mazda a major presence where young automotive enthusiasts grow on trees. The automaker is already involved in SCCA racing with sponsorships and big-dollar prizes for Mazda racers. Adding karting into the mix further increases Mazda’s motorsports presence.

These latest moves demonstrate that the folks in Hiroshima are dead serious when it comes to exposing even more younger people to the Mazda brand. This cultivates potential new customers and ingrains them with a sense of brand loyalty at an early on. You can read the entire press release after the jump.

Continue reading Mazda makes big commitment to Karting

 

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Filed under: Motorsports

The first race of the 2007 American Le Mans Series is in the books with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring concluding in utterly spectacular fashion. Before we get to the story of the race — the jaw-dropping GT2 finish — we need to fill you in on the rest of the action. Audi, as expected, took the overall win as Marco Werner drove the #2 car across the finish line, giving Audi its 8th consecutive win at the event. Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela were the co drivers on the winning machine. The defending champion #1 Audi, which was essentilly rebuilt following a practice crash Thursday night finished fourth overall with Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello, Allan MacNish, and Le Mans god Tom Kristensen behind the wheel.

In P2, Acura made a smashing debut, taking the first two spots in the class and second and third place overall. The Andretti Green Racing team of bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti, and Tony Kanaan took the class win (2nd overall) in their Acura ARX-01a. They were followed by the Fernandez Racing Acura (3rd overall), with the #7 Penske Porsche taking the final P2 podium spot and fifth place overall.

GT1, as expected, was an all-Corvette affair, with the #4 car piloted by Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta, and Max Papis edging its sister, the striking white #3 car helmed by Ron Fellows (in whose honor the car wore its new finish), Johnny O’Connell, and Jan Magnussen. 17 seconds separated the two ‘Vette C6.Rs.

That leaves the epic GT2 finish, which we’ll detail for you after the jump.

[Sources: ALMS, Motorsport.com]

Continue reading 12 Hours of Sebring ends with Audi win, nail-biting GT2 finish

 

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Filed under: Economy, Sports/GTs, Green, Commercial Trucks

Another Micro-Brewery has set out prove that beer is good for the world, sort of. The Stone Brewery of San Diego is recycling their onion ring oil into biodiesel for their delivery trucks. The Marketing VP of Tesla confirms some of their sales and service plans and the FIRST robotics competition is teaming up with FirstFuelCells for a new fuel cell powered robot competition.

• Stone Brewery making biodiesels for their own fleet of trucks
• Tesla to open customer service centers in 2007
• “Green Machine” fuel-cell powered robot competition begins
• MIT experiments with turbocharged, direct injected, ethanol and gasoline powered engine
• Chrysler has (not) chosen it’s Chery. Yes it has. No it hasn’t. What?
• Peterbilt, Eaton and Wal-Mart partner on diesel-electric hybrid truckBiodiesel racer fails to finish in Sebring opener
• Clean diesel buses may herald a move towards hybrids Down Under
• Sports Illustrated tackles global warming; points to athletes making a difference
• First hybrid double decker bus hits the road in London
• Biodiesel racer fails to finish in Sebring opener

 

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Filed under: Motorsports, Chevrolet

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Corvette Racing transformed the #3 C6.R from Velocity Yellow to Arctic White before the start of today’s 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race in Florida. Ron Fellows, making his final Sebring appearance as one of the #3 car’s co-drivers, has a similarly liveried limited-production Corvette Z06 named for him. The change to the race car is an obvious tie-in to the production machine, as it’s identical in scheme right down to the red fender stripes.

GM points out that this is the first time since Le Mans 2003 that one of Corvette Racing’s cars have run in a color other than yellow. Their press release does not point out that 2003 was the year that the Vettes, in their navy blue anniversary livery, were bested by Prodrive’s 550 Maranello at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As of Sebring’s 10-hour mark, it looked as if running in a non-yellow color might not the luckiest thing for the C6.R. The O’Connell/Magnussen/Fellows #3 car was running second in GT1 behind the still-yellow #4. The #3 led early in the race, however, and the cars were on the same lap as of the last posted standings, so there’s still time left for it go out and bust that color jinx.

UPDATE: #4 car wins GT1 (7th overall), followed by the #3 (8th overall). Gap between the two cars was 17 seconds.

[Source: GM via ALMS]

 

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